Recently released documents show that Brian Encinia, the Texas state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland after pulling her over for failing to signal during a lane change, was once given a warning for “unprofessional conduct.” The disciplinary citation occurred last year, when Encinia was still a probationary trooper. »8/01/15 3:15pm Yesterday 3:15pm

A three-month-old baby giraffe named Kipenzi has died in an accident at the Dallas Zoo. The zoo announced on Facebook that the giraffe was running around her enclosure when she ran into its perimeter edge and broke her neck. The zoo livestreamed her birth online in April. According to the zoo’s announcement, Kipenzi… »7/29/15 9:20am Wednesday 9:20am

Sandra Bland was found dead in her jail cell in Waller County, Texas, just days after a white police officer pulled over and arrested her when she failed to signal a lane change. Her arrest has been cited as a prime example of racial bias and misuse of force by the police — and it happened in a county itself marred by… »7/26/15 8:20pm 7/26/15 8:20pm

The funeral for Sandra Bland, the 28-year-old woman who died in a Texas jail, was held this morning in Lisle, a Chicago suburb. Chicago’s ABC 7 reports that the Bland’s family arrived around 8:30 a.m. for private services at the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church. »7/25/15 12:30pm 7/25/15 12:30pm

A Texas prosecutor has announced that Sandra Bland died by hanging in a suicide and her autopsy uncovered no evidence of a “violent struggle.” This autopsy is separate from the independent investigation commissioned by Bland’s family. »7/23/15 6:20pm 7/23/15 6:20pm

Initial reports of Sandra Bland’s arrest claimed that the new Texas resident kicked an officer, causing her to be taken into custody. Newly-released dash cam footage paints a totally different picture. »7/21/15 8:45pm 7/21/15 8:45pm

Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Chicago woman, was found dead in a Texas jail cell last week. Cops say her death was a suicide; her family says it was murder. Now, authorities are releasing new details about her mysterious death, including a rough timeline of her final morning in jail.http://gawker.com/what-happened-...»7/21/15 9:55am 7/21/15 9:55am

Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old from Illinois who had been a vocal participant in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, died in police custody three days after being arrested for “assault on a public servant,” a third-degree felony. Her death was ruled a suicide. »7/16/15 12:45pm 7/16/15 12:45pm

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Monday night that they will begin the process of releasing about 2,000 women and children who have been detained for more than a year at two federal immigration detention facilities in South Texas. ICE said that going forward it “will not generally detain” mothers… »7/14/15 10:10am 7/14/15 10:10am

On July 4, a woman in Houston, Texas was struck by a car and killed while trying to prevent her boyfriend from committing suicide. Michael Thomas, the woman’s boyfriend, had been drinking at a nearby bar. At around 12:30 a.m, he began sitting and lying down in the street in an attempt to commit suicide by getting hit… »7/05/15 4:00pm 7/05/15 4:00pm

The Supreme Court has issued a temporary stay on HB 2, Texas’ disastrous anti-abortion law, which would have closed most clinics in the state. That means the state will be temporarily unable to enforce the law; the Supreme Court will likely hear the case next term. This is good news, for now, possibly followed next… »6/29/15 5:20pm 6/29/15 5:20pm

A Texan woman named Erika Martinez found herself in possession of painful toothaches but no dental insurance to match. Short on cash, she received a reference from a Facebook friend for a man named Mario Sabillon-Mejia, who claimed to be a dentist from Honduras. »6/26/15 6:30pm 6/26/15 6:30pm

A county clerk in Texas is refusing to issue gay marriage licenses, and pretending like she has a good reason. Denton County Clerk Juli Luke issued two statements today, the first saying that she’s refusing to issue the licenses because state law now conflicts with federal law, and the second claiming that actually… »6/26/15 5:50pm 6/26/15 5:50pm

In one of several giant rulings expected this month, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state of Texas isn’t obligated to issue specialty license plates for the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Board refused to issue a special SCV plate bearing a Confederate flag. That… »6/18/15 1:50pm 6/18/15 1:50pm

In a sweeping and fairly disastrous opinion for reproductive health in Texas, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld nearly every part of HB 2, an extremely restrictive law that could make safe, legal abortion access virtually impossible in the state. All but eight abortion clinics… »6/09/15 5:10pm 6/09/15 5:10pm

On Saturday, video was uploaded to Youtube of police officers screaming at and arresting children at a community pool in Texas. One officer, confronted by two boys while grabbing a young girl by the neck and shoving her head towards the ground, pulls his gun and points it at them.»6/07/15 10:00pm 6/07/15 10:00pm